The first of seven shows at the Lyric Opera House saw 17 tracks from the album reimagined
By Max Pilley 22nd November 2025
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins at Gunnersbury Park on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
The opening night of The Smashing Pumpkins’ operatic reimagining of ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ has taken place – watch footage below.
- READ MORE: Billy Corgan on his new podcast ‘The Magnificent Others’: “I’d like to celebrate people in the culture who are misunderstood”
As announced in March, Billy Corgan and co. have taken over the Lyric Opera House in their Chicago hometown for seven nights, which will see the band joined by the venue’s acclaimed 60-piece house orchestra and chorus for a “completely new, sonic and visual experience”.
AdvertisementThe first show went down last night (November 21), and the performance was made up of 17 of the album’s 28 tracks, all conducted by James Lowe. There are six remaining performances to come this week, with the final night taking place on November 30.
Check out footage from the show here:
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The full setlist was:
‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ ‘Tonight, Tonight’ ‘Jellybelly’ ‘Galapogos’ ‘Thirty-Three’ ‘Beautiful’ ‘Muzzle’ ‘Lily (My One And Only)’ ‘Stumbleine’ ‘Thru The Eyes Of Ruby’ ‘In The Arms Of Sleep’ ‘1979’ ‘By Starlight’ ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ ‘To Forgive’ ‘Cupid De Locke’ ‘Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans’ ‘Tonight, Tonight’
RecommendedYesterday also saw the 30th anniversary deluxe reissue of ‘Mellon Collie’, which included a 6LP package that offers over 80 minutes of unreleased audio from the album’s accompanying 1996 tour, a hardbound book with new liner notes from Corgan, a custom tarot card set and seven frameable lithographs.
Speaking to NME back in February, Corgan touched on ‘Mellon Collie’ turning 30 and hinted at an upcoming special edition, saying they were “working with the parent label” to make it happen. “It’s weird because I can’t believe it’s been 30 years. I’m really excited, but at the same time, I’m like ‘What happened over these last 30 years?’”
Elsewhere, Corgan recently said that former Pumpkins bassist D’Arcy Wretzky’s contributions to the band had “a lot to do with” their success, despite their long-running public feud.
After Wretzky left the band in 1999, she was briefly replaced by former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, and she has just announced the release of her memoir, Even The Good Girls Will Cry. It comes out on March 17, 2026, and you can pre-order/pre-save your copy here.
